Festival Etiquette….pretty please

Festival season has begun!

This past weekend, I was in French Lick, Indiana for Our Haven’s Beltaine festival. It’s my second year for this one and I enjoyed it so much.  I leave town tomorrow bound for Circle Sanctuary and another weekend of Beltane celebrating. After that it’s Gathering of All Paths and Heartland and St. Louis Pagan Picnic. And then….well, I’ll tell you more as the summer rolls on.

I’ve been thinking about what I really like about Pagan festivals–the community, the teaching, dancing naked or clothed around a fire, the old friends and the new ones, the music, getting a feel for the land under my happy feet.

I’ve also been thinking about what I don’t like about Pagan festivals and–while I often fuss about the food or grit my teeth at the sleeping arrangements or endure the heat–I find the thing that is most distracting or annoying or aggravating is an old-fashioned, possibly Southern, sort of thing.

Noise. Chatting. Loud conversations within earshot of a class or performance or workshop. We should all know better but we often don’t.

When you are rejoicing to see old friends or listening to a drama-filled account of the latest Pagan melt-down, take a moment to observe your surroundings.  Are you loudly complaining about Lord High Big Name Pagan within five feet of classroom space currently in use?

Stop it. Shut up. Walk away. Lower your voice.

And if the workshop facilitator leaves her or his class and walks over to you to ask you to step farther off or lower your voice, don’t be a self-important jerk.

Likewise with music, if you please.  When Tuatha Dea is tearing it up with “Whiskey in a Jar” and “Loch Lomond,” the sound of you bitching about your boyfriend’s ex is unlikely to disturb anyone. In fact, you are unlikely to be heard at all. But when Becca is singing “Ailein Duinn,” I don’t want to hear your stupid conversation about Dancing with the Stars.

We talk about the importance of community all the damned time.  One aspect of a healthy community is respecting the gifts and talents of the members of our community.

I’m heading out into the wild blue yonder for a summer of touring and teaching and fun.  Do me a favor and don’t make me get up from my class and waste their time and mine to ask you to do the thing you know  is right.